Customs officers suspected in airport smuggling ring

A joint investigation by ABC's 7.30 and Fairfax has revealed that a cell of suspected corrupt Customs officers has allegedly helped smuggle drugs through Australia's biggest airport.

Up to 15 Customs staff at Sydney Airport are believed to have engaged in serious misconduct or corruption.

From that group, a core group of up to 10 officials have been involved in drug trafficking and bribery.

Well-placed sources say the cell has allegedly helped smuggle suitcases and backpacks filled with drugs past screening points, an activity suspected to have occurred every few months for several years.

The Australian Federal Police is refusing to comment, saying that a media event later today will address the allegations.

In early March, the New South Wales police drug squad staged a raid at an apartment block in Woolooware in south Sydney.

It is of paramount importance that corrupt insiders are detected and dealt with.

Neil Fergus

Inside one of the apartments they found five kilograms of pseudoephedrine tablets as well as steroids and 14 grams of cocaine.

Lamella has an interesting history for a man whose job involves detecting drug traffickers.

Publicly available records show that in 2008, NSW police alleged they found Lamella and two other men in a car with five small bags of cocaine, some of which Lamella later admitted to using.

Two years after that, Lamella was involved in a property deal with a man called Joseph Harb, who would later be arrested for drug trafficking.

Harb and Taouil are not Lamella's only alleged questionable associates, nor is Lamella the only Customs officer with suspected links to the criminal underworld.

According to intelligence obtained by 7.30 and Fairfax, several policing and anti-corruption agencies suspect that Lamella is part of an allegedly corrupt cell of customs officers at Sydney Airport.

It is understood that around 12 months ago, the cameras at Sydney Airport were secretly turned on the suspected Customs officers by Australia's secretive and powerful anti-corruption agency, the Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity.

Soon after, Customs officers' phone conversations were being tapped.

It was the tapped phone calls that led NSW police to Refojus's apartment in March.

Refojus is allegedly linked to two members of the corrupt Customs cell, who are believed to have been at his apartment in the hours before the drug squad burst through.

Until this week, only one Customs officer had been arrested and accused in court of drug trafficking.

Arrested with him in August was Harb, who is accused of smuggling drugs through Sydney Airport.

Several other Customs staff remain under investigation but are still working at Sydney Airport or other locations.

History of concerns

Security concerns at Sydney Airport have persisted for years.

In 2005 a leaked Customs report revealed organised crime had infiltrated the airport, and the Federal Government ordered an inquiry.

"There were weaknesses with the CCTV technologies, the sharing of that, there were issues with intelligence sharing. There was a whole raft of issues," Mr Fergus said.

The Howard government moved quickly to reform airport security and policing, but Mr Fergus says the security reforms he called for were never fully realised.

"I can't hand on heart say that it has worked to the extent that we would have liked. I suspect that it would have been less effective than we hoped," he said.

In late 2007, in a report that was kept secret, a top-ranking Customs official urged a doubling in the numbers of anti-corruption staff and warned the agency was terribly exposed without major reforms.

Among the reforms called for were "drug and alcohol testing" of Customs officers and "mandatory reporting of fraud, corruption and serious misconduct".

But those calls would go mostly unheeded for the next five years, leaving Customs without vital anti-corruption safeguards, a fact that shocks Mr Fergus.

"I didn't realise that was the situation. An agency like Customs must have proper background screening, must have internal affairs, must have alcohol and drug testing," he said.

"It almost defies belief that those things are only being addressed now."

In March 2009, the still unplugged gaps in airport security were dramatically illustrated with the fatal bashing of a Hells Angels bikie associate at the Qantas domestic check-in terminal.

If you work at the airport, you know exactly where the black spots are. You know where to smuggle gear in and where to get it out as well.

Steven Hutchins

Airport security failed to stop the attack, and the CCTV cameras failed to capture vision that could be used effectively in court.

Clive Small, a former detective and Assistant Commissioner of the NSW Police, says that was a let down to investigators.

"Given the seriousness of the problem of drugs being smuggled through the airport, I would have thought the cameras would have worked," he said.

In 2009, the AFP's new airport policing squad zeroed in on Wayne Cleveland, a member of the infamous surf gang the Bra Boys.

Police believed Cleveland's drug syndicate had been for more than a decade using corrupt plane cleaners and caterers at Sydney Airport to smuggle cocaine.

In August 2009, Cleveland was filmed meeting one of his corrupt airline catering and cleaning contacts to organise another importation.

Cleveland was arrested and later convicted along with two corrupt airline cleaners who both had been granted Federal Government Aviation Security Identity cards even though they had prior criminal convictions.

Last year, Steven Hutchins led a federal parliamentary committee that toured major airports, examining gaps in border security.

"If you work at the airport, you know exactly where the black spots are. You know where to smuggle gear in and where to get it out as well," he said.

Law enforcement officials told Mr Hutchins that dozens, or even hundreds, of airport and waterfront staff had links to organised crime.

"For some time the ACC and the AFP have been highlighting the amount of infiltration in some areas of the port and airport," Mr Hutchins said.

"They suspect… it's about 3 per cent that may be involved in serious and organised crime."

Calls for inquiry

Mr Hutchins was warned privately by police of the challenges they faced, including a rise in cocaine smuggling through Australia's airports.

So his committee recommended new and sweeping overhauls of airport security.

"When Qantas started a direct flight from Buenos Aires, police thought it would be a significant encouragement to criminals to bring in cocaine on direct flights from South America, which inevitably that has occurred," he said.

I would call for a royal commission. We are not talking about small goods being knocked off any more, we are talking about the importation of drugs.

Steven Hutchins

Incredibly, it is only now that Customs is starting to implement common anti-corruption measures, such as drug testing and the mandatory reporting of corruption.

Unsurprisingly, the recent scandal is sparking calls for a full inquiry.

"I would call for a royal commission," Mr Hutchins said.

"We are not talking about small goods being knocked off any more, we are talking about the importation of drugs."

Mr Fergus says it is time to say "enough is enough".

"I take the point that there's been too many reports and not enough action taken," he said.

"A commission of inquiry with judicial powers? It might be appropriate."